


Petrichor

by YanaEffect



Category: Naruto
Genre: A long talk about flowers, Cozy, M/M, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-16 13:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19650856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YanaEffect/pseuds/YanaEffect
Summary: Two jasmine lovers sit down in a small tea house and have a random talk about flowers.





	Petrichor

**Author's Note:**

> Um... hello? I have risen from the dead. I suddenly realized I haven't written anything in 7 months and tried to come up with a silly little fic to see if I still have it. I couldn't come up with an answer to that, though, so I'm just leaving this here in case anyone is willing to read. 
> 
> Oh, by the way, if you have left a comment before and I haven't replied, thank you and sorry. I was too lazy to do it, then it was too late. I can't human, or adult. 8(

“Jasmine, please.”

As much as he adored many other flowers as well, jasmine was Naruto’s absolute favorite flower. There was no particular reason for that. It was likely that the customers also knew, considering the small corner tea house was decorated generously by a couple of jasmine pots, and jasmine tea was on the discounted “Favorite of the day” section most days. He didn’t have too many tea options for customers to choose from, but the ones he had on sale were quite rich and tasty. The only coffee type he served was also good, freshly brewed always, and it had a unique nutty flavor that wasn’t found in other stores. It didn’t take a genius to realize Naruto was really good at brewing beverages.

He grinned broadly as he took the cash from the customer and handed the change with ease, and a tiny bit of excitement welled up inside from seeing a familiar face. “Thought so.”

There wasn’t someone to help him out in the shop, so he took care of things on his own. As the tea was left alone to brew, his eyes wandered over the three round tables he had placed over the wooden floor. The rustic countertop was in perfect shape, even though it was not that new. On the contrary, the cups he used for serving tea were bought fairly recently. Naruto remembered buying them about the same time as Sasuke had started coming to his shop.

Their encounter was something a little like fate, a believer would say. Sasuke’s older brother, Itachi, was a freelance writer with an extraordinary passion for coffee, and he had a corner in a magazine just for trying different coffee shops all over the country. He often dragged Sasuke along for Sasuke was naturally gifted at taking pictures. It was one of those days when they had learned that the café they wanted to try was closed. Somehow, they had wound up in Naruto’s shop, about five minutes before closing time. Despite having only one type of coffee in the shop, Naruto had earned two lines in the next week’s magazine - which felt like a consolation prize, but he wasn’t running a coffee shop, technically, so it was fine.

Naruto often thought about Sasuke while watering the plants – he guessed it was because the smell of jasmine. Sasuke always ordered jasmine tea. He watched the water flow down from the plastic can, and wondered about the things he couldn’t bring himself to ask Sasuke. They hardly ever asked questions about each other. If one wanted the other to know something, he talked about it, and that was the unspoken rule they had going on. So, since he had never tested the waters, he didn’t know the boundaries. Naruto talked about himself more than Sasuke did, surely. He liked talking. But Sasuke was more reserved. It was ridiculous that he could probably count on one hand the things he knew about Sasuke despite him coming over almost every week.

Naruto had once tried making a list. Sasuke liked jasmine tea, he didn’t drink coffee after noon. He liked wearing blue. He took good pictures and looked good himself while doing so. His grandma used to run a tea house just like Naruto’s.

That was all he could come up with, practically. 

Shaking his head, he carefully poured the tea into the cup, and put it on a tray along with the serving. Sasuke was seated long ago, his chin placed in his palm. His dark eyes were watching the people passing by. 

“I have other tea too, y’know,” Naruto offered as he fixed his white apron. He then took a seat on the other side of the table.   


Sasuke leaned back with an almost inaudible sigh. “Like?”

“It’s on the menu.” Then, he remembered that Sasuke never spent much time with the menu. Whenever Naruto offered it, Sasuke took a short look at it and ordered jasmine. “Chai is a favorite of mine. Too spicy for summer, though. Chamomile is good. I also like Hibiscus. I have Matcha, too, if you like traditional stuff. Spearmint. Rosehip.” He took a moment to think. “Not a fan, but I have Oolong.”

Sasuke separated the cup from his lips and swallowed. “I like jasmine best.”

“Yeah, well.” Naruto tried to put a small smile on his lips. “I certainly understand that. But if you feel like drinking somethin’ else, I’ll be here.”

Appreciatively, Sasuke smiled back. It wasn’t very noticable, but it didn’t seem fake either. “Thanks.” He took another sip. “You look tired.”

“Uh. Sort of, yeah.”

“Busy today?”

“Very. It’s been like that after the article. It’s starting to get better, though.” He rubbed his lips together in thought, and ran a hand through his hair. He was sure that he smelled like a mixture of different herbs by now. “I was thinkin’ about getting a new place. Well - not thinking about it yet, but, like, what would it be like if I had more space? I wonder.”

“With more tables.”

“Right. People complain when there’s a line.”

“Hm.”

He looked around the shop with affection. He had made this place from scratch. The days he had spent making money for his dream were not forgotten, neither the sleepless nights he had spent to install flooring and wallpapers.

Sasuke hummed gently. “You like this place.”

“Sure.” Naruto looked up, into Sasuke’s eyes. “I love it. The flowers. The atmosphere. The smell. It’s in a great neighborhood, too.”

There was a silence, and Naruto used it to study Sasuke’s blue blazer. He wore a white shirt underneath, and his jeans were dark. 

Naruto didn’t know what Sasuke did for a living. He kept imagining it to be something akin to Itachi’s. He could be wrong, though. Maybe it was something completely different, like a baseball player. Or a zookeeper. Probably not a pirate, but he could never be sure.

“I’ve been having this dream,” Sasuke spoke at last, crossing his legs and leaning over as if to get Naruto’s attention to make sure he listened. “Repeatedly. It’s the same dream every night. I receive a bouquet of flowers in the evening. I ask the mailman whom they’re from, but he doesn’t have a face. He doesn’t talk.” He halted for a second, then continued. “The flowers smell like jasmine, but they’re somehow different.”

“Different?”

“Yes. I watch the mailman walk away. Then I take the bouquet and start building a wall with the flowers.”

“A flower wall,” Naruto said.

“I guess you could call it that. I water the flowers piled up. Each by each, they take on color. Blue flowers, green flowers. Orange. The sky and the grass become gray. As if the petals are sucking up their color. The flowers grow wide enough to block the entrance to the apartment completely.`

“Then?” 

“I wake up.”

“You’re not on the other side of the wall when it’s grown?”

“No. I’m left alone with the wall standing right in front of me. Isolating me.”

“An interesting dream,” Naruto commented with honesty. “I don’t know what it tells, though.”

“I guess. It doesn’t have to have a meaning. But I feel like it does,” admitted Sasuke with a small frown. “What’s on the other side? Is there anyone worried about me there? What is the wall for?”

“You don’t know?”

“No.” He shook his head. ”Come to think of it. It’s a surprise you don’t have dreams about jasmine flowers as well.”

“Heh.” Naruto laughed shortly, reaching for a nearby pot and caressing the leaves with his index finger. “Maybe I should bring here the marigolds I have at home for some color.” 

Sasuke shrugged. “If you want to. But I like the simplicity of it now.”

“Yeah? Marigolds can stay where they are, then,” Naruto said without any more thought. He cared about Sasuke’s opinion more than he realized. 

“Actually, you sort of remind me of a marigold,” Sasuke stated without a change of expression.

Naruto let out a short laugh. Sasuke could be very direct sometimes. “You mean like that song on the radio? But without the straw hat. It’s the blond hair, probably.”

“Mm. Also your face.”

“How come my face reminds you of a flower?”

“I’ve been wondering that. Your face is pretty ordinary.”

Naruto faked offence, knitting his brows and jokingly spitting out, “How dare you.”

“Maybe I’m delusional.”

“Maybe I put something in your tea.”

“Ouch,” Sasuke smiled. “I know it’s past closing time, but can I have another cup?”

Naruto’s eyes found the clock on the wall. It certainly had been more than half an hour since he was supposed to shut down. Luckily, he had already put the closed sign up, so no one else had walked in. He wasn’t in a hurry, and didn’t have anyone waiting for him at home, so he guessed he could just stay here, drink some tea and… talk with Sasuke. Or sit in silence. He didn't mind either way, and should they choose to talk, he had fun.

He ended up standing up and putting the cup back on the tray. “Jasmine?”

“Actually,” Sasuke got to his feet as well. “I want something else this time. You choose.”

“Ah. Alrighty, I was thinking about having spearmint myself. You okay with that?”

“Sure.” He hesitantly followed Naruto to the kitchen area behind the counter. “Can I watch?”

“Of course. You don’t even need to ask.” His skilled hands started preparing the tea. The herbs were kept inside pristine glass jars, and they were aligned side by side on a shelf where it was open to display. He watched Sasuke with the corner of his eye. The man was a little taller than Naruto, and the skin of his hand that reached for the jars seemed smooth and pale. He gave a confident impression as he examined the jars one by one, eyes lingering on the herbs for about fifteen seconds or so before moving on to the next one. Naruto watched his own hands for a while. They were tanned, and occasional burns and scars were there.  


By the time Sasuke had finished studying them, Naruto was done with placing the teacups on the table.

“What is this one called?”

He turned around to see what the other was talking about. Sasuke was holding a smaller jar, eyes narrowed. The colors of the leaves were a little darker compared to the content of other jars. 

“That’s mine. Uh, I mean. I made it the last time I caught a cold. I mixed different herbs and stuff. It’s supposedly good for your throat. Doesn't have a name yet.”

“What does it taste like?”

Naruto scratched his cheek in thought. “I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it’s not the tastiest thing I have here.”

“That’s cinnamon,” Sasuke said, pointing at a piece of broken cinnamon stick.

“Yep. There’s a list on the back. I even wrote how much of everything I put in it. I tend to do that when I make a mix. Just in case it turns out good.”

Sasuke briefly looked at the small white paper glued to the glass, then nodded and put it on the counter. “My grandmother used to make me tea with cinnamon in it.” He turned around. “Is it okay if I take a picture of this?”

“The list?”

“No. The leaves.”

“Go ahead,” Naruto shrugged, watching Sasuke take out his iPhone out of his pocket. “Is it for Itachi?”

“Itachi doesn’t really like tea that much,” he explained as he tried to find a good angle. “This is for my own work.”

Naruto breathed out, clenching one of his hands, unsure about how to react. “Is that so.”

Sasuke appeared done after a few seconds. He glanced at Naruto. “You’re not gonna ask me what I’m gonna do with it?”

A silent permission.

“What are you gonna do with it?”

“Paint it,” said Sasuke, putting his phone back in his pocket and making his way toward the table. He took a seat, and so did Naruto. “I haven’t worked with colors like this in a long time. Thought I could give it a try.”

Licking his bottom lip, Naruto tried to come up with something to say. “I didn’t know you painted.” He quickly added, “Sounds nice.”

“It’s one of the few things in life I can do without a problem.”

Naruto reached out for his tea. “Somehow I find that… hard to believe.”

There was no reply. He sipped his tea. It had cooled down enough to drink.

“I’d like to see your work,” he finally mumbled. 

Sasuke didn’t seem surprised. “What sort of things do you think I paint?” he asked, relaxing his shoulders. “Don’t worry,” he added quickly. Naruto must have been making a nervous face. “I’m just curious.”

“Hm.” He took his time to answer. “I’d say you’re not a fan of painting people. Just a hunch.”

“What else?”

“I might be making these up completely,” he warned, “But I feel like you paint very colorful things. Like, you use lots of color. Maybe you have a collection of the tea leaves you draw.”

“That would be boring. Completely wrong,” Sasuke snorted. “Not the color part. You’re partially correct about that.”

“Heh. I honestly thought you liked drawing flowers and stuff for a moment.”

“I did,” he said. “The first painting I ever did was of a lemon tree.”

Naruto nodded in thought. “What happened though? Why did you stop?”

“I had to.” 

The conversation died down like that. Naruto thought about it over and over in his head, trying to find a hidden meaning behind Sasuke’s words. Perhaps the secret was never meant to be found out by him, he thought. Perhaps Sasuke wanted to tell him in time, give the flowers color one by one, painting them carefully like the skilled painter he surely was. 

Sasuke sighed. “It’s getting late. Time for me to get going.”

“Ah, right.” It was almost nine. The sky had darkened considerably. Naruto offered a small smile to Sasuke. “Guess I’ll clean up and go home as well.”

“Need help?”

“Nah. I’ll manage. Thanks for offerin’, though.” He put a hand up when Sasuke took out his wallet. “Please. My treat.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it,” Sasuke smiled back. “See you later, Naruto.” 

“Bye, Sasuke.”

The hardwood floor creaked as Sasuke walked out into the street, disappearing from view. Naruto was left alone with cups to wash and tables to wipe. He took a deep breath and took the cups to the sink before starting to fill the watering can from the tap.

The flowers needed to be watered.


End file.
